Review: Samsung T809

My review...

I researched this phone throroughly and then bought it. My 1st thoughts were that it felt like a POS in my hands. build quality is horrible. feels like a kid's toy. I have owned a se 700i for the past year, so nost comparisons are made from it, but I have also tested other phones.

I would disagree mostly on the speakerphone/mp3 quality. It is definitely the worst ive had. I transferred ther same mp3 from my old phone so I was truly comparing apples to apples. 1st, there is no range(highs or lows) plus the volume was low.

I thought the user interface was quite poor. I especially had trouble with the clear ("c") button b/c it was positioned too close to the directional pad.

As far as build quality goes, it has been said that there are two different versions of the phone. The initial batch didn't slide as well and the doors for the memory card were very flexible rubber. The newer ones (the one I have) have more solid doors and the slide is alot smoother.

As far as volume, you've got to be doing something wrong. The phone is REALLY loud when turned all the way up in the mp3 player and while watching videos (using the external speakers, not the headphones).

When they do anything at all, they're basically sound effects that make it sound "more stereo" by distorting the sound. You can't get anything more than stereo (or distorted stereo) from just two speaker drivers.

Of course the reason for these gimmicks is that you can't really hear the true stereo separation effect from two speakers that are are little more than one inch apart.

So they add these sound effect gimmicks that make it sound "more stereo", but if you actually played a sound check MP3, you'd still have a hard time telling the left channel from the right.

...which means that stereo speakers built in to phones aren...(continues)

Rich Brome said:You can't get anything more than stereo (or distorted stereo) from just two speaker drivers.

tell that to bose

seriously though, they can create the illusion of surround from just 2 speakers in home theater, they have been for a long time - i'll bet your tv at home says "surround" and it's just 2 speakers. I do agree that this is fake surround sound, but the rokr did sound a bit better than other phones when listening to the mp3's on the loudspeaker. on the other hand, that's not how most people will use an mp3 player. all in all it is a gimmick, but that's marketing - and it does get people's attention

Bose may talk about "room-filling" or "enveloping" sound from their stereo speakers, but that's not "surround". If Bose sells speakers as "surround" then you can bet there are more than two speaker drivers involved.

Even the single-enclosure "surround bar" speakers have more than two drivers in there. A TV could have "surround sound" with four speakers aimed in different directions. It would sound crappy compared to separate speakers, but it wouldn't be false advertising.

A phone with two speakers and advertised as "surround" would be false advertising.

But come to think of it, I don't see that many phones advertised that way. What I do see are phones with "3D stereo" sound... which is a pure marketing invention that means almost no...(continues)

No one was out of line! I just enjoy a good debate. And I guess the topic is a slight pet peeve of mine...

Certainly some phones sound much better playing music than others, but usually that's simply due to a difference in speaker quality or enginering skill, not some 3D sound "feature". That's all I was trying to say.

that was actually quite interesting, i didn't think they would just use 4 drivers, aim them in differnt directions for "surround". My monitor right now says "Virtual Dolby Surround" - i guess it's not 4 speakers, just 2 crappy ones and they just use the word 'virtual' as their disclaimer.

There's no comparison to what Bose does with their simulated surround sound system and full, theatre-quality surround sound. Bose speakers are junk compared to what you'd get out of a 5.1 or 7.1 channel surround sound system from other dedicated speaker companies such as Klipsch or KEF.

It's essentially the same comparison between the speakers on a cell phone, including the ROKR and w600, and true surround sound. The speakers on these phones aren't great by any stretch of the imagination; low base and high trebel are terribly distorted. You're not even getting the sound quality that you'd get by listening to them through a good set of earphones. These speakers also do not produce surround sound. You will have no sensation of h...(continues)

i have to agree with you on that one rich, but whatever gimmicking technology the used to set up the stereo effect on the rokr e1 was hot! it was indeed the best gimmick i've heard from a phone. being an audio head my sounds gotta be perfect. i was ticked buy the supposed 3d audio of the w600 in comparison of the rokr. i could of punched that cingy rep in the face for dare saying it was betters than the rokr in sound. but however i do believe you in the gimmicks of stereo speakers on cell phones. even apple didn't slap speakers on an ipod yet